


Caught

by Ta_Moe



Category: Merlin (TV) RPF
Genre: Complete, M/M, Magic Reveal, Merlin - Freeform, before series 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-10
Updated: 2013-03-09
Packaged: 2017-11-28 20:24:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/678543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ta_Moe/pseuds/Ta_Moe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“WHAT IS THIS?”, he looked closer at it, eyes wide in horror and shock.<br/>“That's what I'd like to know and the producers and probably everyone else on set and THE WORLD!”<br/>He didn't listen to her and just kept staring at the picture that was showing on the front cover of some random news magazine. Bradley couldn't believe what he was seeing there. A photo of himself, holding onto Colin's collar, kissing the life out of his co-star. He felt blood rush to his face and it seemed as if he tried to hide behind the paper.<br/>“What do you think you were doing?”<br/>“I dunno”, he answered truthfully, “I have no idea what happened last night. Everything is a blur. I only remember going drinking with Colin and that's it. When I woke up this morning I felt pretty knackered but okay. I've been worse”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this long before series 5.

„God, my head“, Bradley complained, rubbing his head in pain, “Will you just keep the noise down?”  
“Bradley fucking James!”, Katie yelled through the door, banging her fists at the wood, “No, wrong, I should probably say Bradley fucking Colin!?”  
“What's wrong with you?”, the blond man opened the door, his ears ringing, and ushered the tall woman in, “Mc Grath, what did I do to deserve this horrible wake up call?”  
“THIS!”, she pushed him a magazine straight into the face, “What is this? Is that true?”  
Bradley couldn't see and he still felt a little dizzy from the drinking night before, “please, don't yell”  
He took the magazine from her hands and stared at the cover, he stared for a long time until it finally sank in.  
“WHAT IS THIS?”, he looked closer at it, eyes wide in horror and shock.  
“That's what I'd like to know and the producers and probably everyone else on set and THE WORLD!”  
He didn't listen to her and just kept staring at the picture that was showing on the front cover of some random news magazine. Bradley couldn't believe what he was seeing there. A photo of himself, holding onto Colin's collar, kissing the life out of his co-star. He felt blood rush to his face and it seemed as if he tried to hide behind the paper.  
“What do you think you were doing?”  
“I dunno”, he answered truthfully, “I have no idea what happened last night. Everything is a blur. I only remember going drinking with Colin and that's it. When I woke up this morning I felt pretty knacked but okay. I've been worse”  
“Great, I don't even wanna know how Colin is feeling at the moment”, Katie sighed, “the poor boy. You should know by now that you have to be extra discrete with your relationship and how easily embarrassed he is and all that”   
“Relationship?”, Bradley repeated, raising an eyebrow at her.  
“Yeah, you should know it might be cruel to you two, but for now it's essential to keep away from scandals like that and now you've-”  
“I was just drunk and messing around. It's not like Colin and I are dating or anything”, Bradley interrupted her, looking confused.  
Her eyebrows shot up, “You aren't?”  
“No, we are not!”, Bradley emphasized.  
“Then why did you kiss and confess your utmost love for him in front of the whole pub, grabbed his collar and snogged the hell outta him?”  
“I did WHAT?”  
“That's all written in there and believe me, this is not an exception – there must be at least 10 other magazines stating the same”  
“I never... did I really? Oh my god, I can't remember a thing!”, the blond man slumped down on the floor, magazine still in hand, staring at himself kissing his best friend, “Looks like I really did. Oh man, Colin's gonna hate me” he went his free hand over his face and through his hair.  
Katie looked down at him in pity, “Well, then you better go, explain yourself to him and THE WHOLE WOLRD!”  
He glanced up at her, “I don't think the WHOLE WORLD cares, Katie!”  
“Oh, it does!”, she smirked, “Believe me, it does”  
That said she left and slammed the door shut loudly.


	2. Chapter 2

“Colin, Colin!”, Bradley knocked at his friend's hotel room door, “Open up!”  
There was no answer, only shuffling inside.  
“Come on. We need to talk, please Col, open up!”  
He leaned to the door, “please”  
He heard the lock click and moved away as the door was opened and Colin waved him in, “come in!”  
“Thanks”, the blond man said and walked in.  
“So, you wanted to apologize, I suppose?”  
Bradley looked at him, “I guess so... look, I really have no idea what happened last night, I'd really like you to enlighten me”  
Colin nodded and turned away, not facing his friends any more, “Well” he was lost in thought for a moment, “You really can't remember anything at all?”  
Bradley shook his head, “none of it. The only thing I know is you were ushering me to drink this weird colored cocktail and after that everything is a blur”  
Colin sighed, “Alright, I'll tell you. Sit down”  
Bradley obeyed and let himself fall onto Colin's bed, waiting in both anticipation and worry.  
“Well, after you had drunk this cocktail Rupert and Eoin came to join us, you don't even remember that? And well, Eoin had the brilliant idea to play truth or dare”  
Bradley shook his head, “No, I didn't know they had been there”  
“Okay, well, you got pretty hyper about the game like some teenager”  
Bradley swallowed hard, “I somehow can see where this is leading to”  
Colin nodded, “I guess you do. Well, we played a bit, which ended in dares making each other mainly drinking some more weird cocktails and stuff, until Eoin got bored of it and dared you to-”  
“kiss me?”, Bradley finished for him.  
Colin nodded, blushing slightly “Though he never said anything about how, and Rupert was against it by all means, but drunk as you were you didn't listen to anyone or reason”  
Bradley swallowed hard, “Uhm, Colin... I'm sorry, I really am and don't worry, I'll make it up to you and... I bet Johnny already made a date for a press conference or something...”  
Colin chuckled lightly, “He did. It's in 2 hours already, he called me right before you came”  
“Was he angry?”, Bradley looked to the floor.  
“Angry? He was furious! He asked how we could be this stupid. I had to endure his long lecture all alone. You owe me, James!”  
Bradley buried his face in his hands, “God, this is so embarrassing!”  
“Yeah”, Colin agreed, opening the door, “Now, that you know – you better go and get properly dressed for the conference and do something about the bags under your eyes. You are supposed to be a role model for god's sake”  
Bradley grinned and stood up, “Well, Morgan – you see what you do to me – all these sleepless nights”  
“Idiot”, Colin said and gave his friend a soft whack to the head.  
“Oh, one more thing”, he scratched his neck nervously, “Did I really confess my love to you? I mean, that's what the magazines said”  
Colin looked at him, surprised and confused, “erm... that was part of the dare”  
Bradley nodded, “Of course” and left.


	3. Chapter 3

“We were only joking around. I can tell you, all of you, drinking is not good. Look at me, it didn't do me any good”, Bradley explained to the audience, they laughed.  
The three of them sat cramped behind a long table, Johnny at one end, Bradley at the other and Colin in the middle. There wasn't much space in the small room, they had managed to get on this short notice, but it was enough. Even though the papers had been put for only some hours it seemed as if everyone already knew and was eager to know the truth, thus at least 50 reporters and photographers were standing squeezed together in the little room, which was a lot in Bradley's respect.  
Bradley's shoulders bumped into Colin's due to the small space and the boy flinched away, glancing at his friend only briefly, before he turned his attention back to the ongoing conference.  
“It didn't mean anything. Everyone does foolish things from time to time, I bet you all know that and of course it's not an excuse for Bradley's excessive drinking.”, Johnny went on, looking with serious eyes at the blond man.  
Bradley nodded embarrassed, “Yes, and I apologize for my behaviour and everything that might have caused misunderstandings”  
Dozens of flash lights went off as he bowed his head a little to give his point a more sincere look.  
Suddenly a female reporter in the back raised her hand and was allowed to ask her question, “What exactly are you apologizing for? That you drank too much that you lost your senses and looked like a bad role model for children or because you kissed your male co-star?”  
Silence filled the room, all eyes were on Bradley.  
“Well – both, I guess?”, it was more a question than an answer and he instantly knew that this had been the wrong answer, as she knitted her eyebrows in disappointment  
“Because you see, I wasn't thinking right, so it was stupid of me to do … to kiss Colin and even if it had been a random girl, it wouldn't change anything, you know”, he added hastily, glancing at Colin, “it's just not okay to go around drinking and end up doing something stupid that could hurt other people's feelings or produce weird scandals and-”  
“So, you are saying”, the reporter interrupted him, “that it's a scandal if you and Colin Morgan had been kissing, even if you were a couple?”  
“It depends on what you mean by scandal”, Bradley said carefully, not looking at Colin, but instead glancing over to Johnny who stared at him, trying to tell him to shut up, “I don't think it would be bad or anything, it's just-”  
“It doesn't matter, as it is not how it is”, Johnny finally intervened, “And that's all we are gonna say about this. Bradley apologized for his unprofessional behaviour and there's nothing else we can do. Thank you”   
“What does Colin say about this?”, another reporter said, but Johnny waved his question away.  
More questions were yelled at them, but Johnny and the two young men made their way out of the room through a back door.

“I'd never have thought that this could be of so much interest”, Bradley said quietly, when they were back in his car.  
Colin nodded in the passenger seat, “yeah” He looked down at his hands, playing with a loose thread of his dark blue hoody sleeves.  
They were silent for the rest of their trip back to their hotel in Cardiff. This sudden riot over this incident had cost them most part of their free Sunday they originally had planned to spent watching silly movies and maybe planning another prank on Angel.   
Once they were back, it was already evening and Colin vanished into his room, whereas Bradley stood in front of his friend's door, wondering if he had done anything to upset Colin, anything else than kiss him in public, confess his love, take it all back and make it into a joke, apologizing to the whole word for it even and explaining nothing and never asking him about how he felt about it all. He was such a jerk, Bradley thought to himself and hit his forehead to Colin's hotel room door. 

The bumping sound of this made Colin open the door again, which startled Bradley and he lost his balance for a second. Colin reached out to his friend and pulled him back in a fast movement to stable him, but he used too much force and thus Bradley ended up in his arms, throwing them both to the ground backwards.   
“Bradley”, Colin growled, “You know, you are heavy”  
“Sorry”, he said and got up, helping his friend on his feet as well.  
“What is it?”  
Bradley looked at him irritated.  
“Why are you here?”  
“Erm, I just”, suddenly Bradley felt stupid. What did he want? Did he want to apologize again? Did he want to know Colin's thoughts about this whole incident? It didn't make any sense, why would his friend even be bothered about it all? What had led him to these weird assumptions.  
“Bradley?”  
“Er... just... wanted to... ask if you are alright”  
Colin rose an eyebrow, “What are you talking about?”  
“I mean, this whole thing – it was all my fault and I never even asked how you feel about it”  
He chuckled, “How I feel about it? Bradley, if you really want to know – I'm totally embarrassed by this whole thing and well, that's about it. I'm not the type to make out in public in general and when you suddenly jumped me yesterday I was shocked for a lifetime probably. Don't ever do something like that again, or I might kill you”  
Bradley exhaled deeply, “Okay, I hereby swear that I'll never kiss Colin Morgan in public ever again”  
Colin wriggled his eyebrows, “Oh, so you leave the option to kiss me in private open?!”  
Bradley laughed, “Do you want me to kiss you in private, Colin?”   
He had said it as a joke, but Colin didn't respond instantly, instead he shut his mouth into a tight line. Suddenly the air became heavy. Silence filled the room and Colin shuffled with his feet, trying to search for something to break this awkwardness.  
It was Bradley who was finally able to do so, when he added, “And I swear to never drink again that much that I loose myself”, he put his right hand onto his heart and stood still, grinning.  
Colin giggled at that and looked away, “Well, since we... erm, cleared this, we better go to bed, remember, early call tomorrow”  
Bradley nodded in agreement, “Yeah, sure. You are right, mommy Morgan”  
“'Mommy'?”, Colin asked disapprovingly.  
“Are you my mommy?”, Bradley quoted with a serious expression, making Colin burst into a fit of laughter.


	4. Chapter 4

When they finally wrapped the next day, it was already late and dark outside. And even though everyone was tired and went to their rooms as fast as possible, Katie wouldn't. She knocked eagerly at the door of Bradley's room, shouting him out, “Bradley! Bradley! You MUST see this!”  
An annoyed and already in pyjamas dressed Bradley James opened the door to a hyper and way too energetic looking Katie McGrath.   
“What do you want?”, he asked annoyed, looking between her and her tiny open laptop in her hands.  
“I gotta show you something”, she said grinning and invited herself into Bradley's room.  
She placed her laptop on his bed and ushered him to join her sitting in front of it.  
Sighing, he obeyed, too tired to even try arguing with her and let himself fall down onto the floor next to the bed.  
“So? What was this important to show me in the middle of the night?”  
Ignoring his ranting, Katie opened a window on her computer, scrolling down a little and shoving it almost straight into his face.  
“Read!”  
Bradley sighed again and did as he was told. His eyes widened with every word and picture and sentence he saw, until he had enough and pushed the laptop out of his sight, “What's that, Katie? You know, I already told you, I don't care what you do in your free time but don't bother ME with it”  
“Don't you find it interesting that the fans are more in shock now that they know the kiss was only a joke than they were when they found out about it?”  
Bradley eyed her confused.  
“Look, before the magazines stated it all as if you were having a secret affair or something, do you have any ideas how much POSITIVE feedback we got?”  
“'we'?”  
Katie ignored him again, “And now that you took it back, they are all hugely disappointed and think the BBC is homophobic or you are too afraid or just stupid to joke around like that-”  
“Katie”, Bradley interrupted her, “look, I don't know what anyone's thinking and really, I don't care. It's none of my business what they think as much as it's none of theirs what I do privately”  
“Exactly, so why do you care?”  
“I don't, I just told yo-”  
“Bradley, you can try to fool us all you want, but you can't fool yourself. We all know how much Colin means to you”  
His mind went blank.  
“You know, you might have been drunk, but it seems you're the type to go around confessing everything that's on your mind to the whole world, when you are pissed”  
Bradley stood silent.  
“Which in this case must have been your hidden feelings for Colin”, she finished.  
It was silent in the hotel room. They could hear the quiet ticking noise of Bradley's alarm clock.  
“Bradley?”  
“I...”, he paused and looked to the floor where he sat, his hands resting on his knees, “am I really that obvious”  
Katie nodded, “Somehow, yeah”  
“Do you think...”, he gulped, “Colin... does he know too?”  
She smiled at him through her eyes, sincere but in pity, “Yes, I think he does – well, after what happened Saturday night no wonder”  
“but it was only a game”  
“No, Bradley, it wasn't – you were simply drunk – Colin and the guys made that story up for the press”  
He looked at her in shock, “Are you serious?”  
She looked away and nodded, “Yes, Bradley”  
“So, he lied to me”  
“What did you expect him to do?”  
“Well, tell me what really hap-”  
“How could he, don't you think it's hard enough for him to know that his best friend is in love with him? And finding it out because said best friend got DRUNK? And now you want HIM to start this kinda topic?”  
Bradley stood up and walked over to the door.  
“Where are you going?”, Katie asked worried.  
“To Colin, I think we need to really talk”  
“Don't”, Katie said quietly, her eyes fixed on Bradley's.  
“Why?”  
“Now is not the right time”  
“Then when is it?”  
She looked down, “Don't ask me!”  
Bradley swallowed hard, “You-”  
Katie sighed, “I talked to him and-”  
“Then why did you even come here in the first place!? I don't get it – showing me this”, he waved at her computer, “it looks to me as if you want us to be together but now you suddenly tell me I shouldn't even TELL him how I feel?”  
She bit her lower lip.  
“This is... I'm confused. God, Katie – you better leave”  
“Yeah, I will, if you promise me, you won't do anything rash”  
He looked at her, “If you tell me why. What did he tell you?”  
“I can't tell you, Bradley. It wouldn't be fair to Colin”  
“He's disgusted by me, right? No, he's too nice for that, he's... just not in love with me”  
Katie got up as well and walked up to him, “Just trust me on this, Bradley. Give him some time”  
He eyed her suspiciously, “I will, but I can't tell you for how long”  
She nodded, smiling, then she gave him a soft pat on the shoulder and left with her laptop.  
This night, Bradley couldn't sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

One week passed. One week Bradley hadn't talked to Colin about anything that had happened before, one week without anything press related either. It was as if no one bothered about this whole thing anymore and it felt as if a really heavy weight had been lifted off Bradley's shoulders.   
He had pretended to be normal, as if nothing had ever happened and Colin was doing the same or he really hadn't been thinking much of it in the first place.  
Katie must had been lying to him about Colin knowing of his feelings, but maybe he really didn't want to be bothered with it at all. 

Bradley sat down in his chair next to Colin, waiting for his next scene to arrive and skipping through the pages of the script. He wasn't really paying attention to the texts, but was watching Colin out of the corner of his eye. The young dark haired man was reading his script thoroughly, unlike Bradley, who was barely scamming the pages. After several minutes had passed, Colin closed his papers, looked up and suddenly faced Bradley, “Stop staring at me, it's irritating”  
Bradley, startled by this, looked at him properly, eyes wide, “Excuse me?”  
“You've been staring at me ever since you sat down next to me, and not only that, this past week, you've done nothing but watching me”  
“Er”  
“Don't even try to deny it. I know when you lie, I can see it in your eyes”, Colin said and suddenly his face flushed a little as he realized how cheesy his words must have had sounded.  
“So? You can see it in my eyes, if I'm lying, Morgan”, Bradley teased him and leaned in a little closer, so he could stare right into his friend's face.  
“Uhm, maybe”, he said and didn't back out, but held his gaze.  
“Then ask me anything you want, I'll answer with a yes or no and you tell me weather I told the truth or not”, a broad grin was spread across Bradley's lips.  
Colin looked at him, his mind working. The blond man chuckled at that and his smirk grew bigger, “Nothing you wanna know?”  
“Are you...”, Colin paused, rethinking his question and choice of words, “Is it true that-”  
He rephrased again, while Bradley rose one eyebrow, “What you told me last weekend-”  
Bradley's heart began to pound.  
“About... you know”, Colin looked away for a moment, glancing around, making sure no one could hear them. His words were only a whisper now:“About your … your feelings for me” He turned to face him again, “was that actually the truth?”  
Bradley's eyes widened and for the split of a second he lost his face, before he fell into broad laughter, “Me? No way. What gave you that thought?”  
Colin stared at his friend in disbelief, “Look me in the eye and repeat that, Bradley”  
He stopped laughing and swallowed hard, which didn't go by unnoticed by Colin, “That's ridiculous. I'm gonna go get myself a drink”  
He wanted to get up and leave, but Colin reached out after him, grabbed him at his arm and pulled him back into his seat, “Your bottle of water is still here, Bradley”  
Colin's hand is around my wrist, Bradley thought and the spot his friend touched, started to feel hot and the mere thought of him touching him made his face flush and his hand sweaty, “Colin, let me go”  
“Not before you said the same thing you answered a moment ago, while looking into my eyes!”  
Bradley tried to wriggle his arm free, but even though Colin's built was small and looked weak, he had a decent amount of strength in holding him in place.  
Bradley shook his head, screwing up his eyes.  
“Bradley”, Colin said, his voice soft and quietly.  
He slowly moved around, opening his eyes, facing his friend.   
“This was only a joke, you know”, Bradley whispered and looked at some unknown point behind Colin's left shoulder, “You could have asked something else and left that alone, as you seem to know the answer of this question already, anyway”  
Colin smiled at Bradley, who's eyes were sad and full of hurt and frustration.  
“It's okay, no one's gonna judge you”, he took Bradley's right hand into his own, while he let go of his wrist, “I'm your friend and I'm here for you, no matter what”

Bradley inhaled deeply and shook his hand free from Colin's, “I don't want to be your friend!”, he yelled and earned a lot of unwanted attention from the staff members, running around, who all stopped at his sudden outburst. Tears welled up in Bradley's eyes and he glared at Colin one last time before he stormed off to the men's restroom in hope of not being found there for now.  
That had been quite the confession, he had to admit to himself, the worst he could have had done. He was sitting on a toilet, face buried in his hands, trying to suppress the tears that wanted out.  
Rubbing his eyes and sniffling he opened the door of his stall and walked over to the mirrors, seeing his own dreadful reflection. God, look at this man, beaten down by some stupid teenage crush. He growled annoyed at himself, I really am pathetic to let this bother me that much.   
Bradley needed to come out of this slump this instant or it would even affect his work. This was the last thing he needed right now, thankfully he had been able to be normal around Colin this past week, but now it would be awkward. He really needed to pull himself together and thus he splashed his face with cold water, made sure his eyes had lost all the red colour. Then he put his best Arthur grin on his lips and went out to the set, where he was about to film a scene with Colin now. He tried his best to remain calm and steady. As Arthur he finally reached 'his' chambers, put himself in position and waited patiently for his 'servant' to arrive. Yes, now he would only refer to Colin as Merlin and himself as Arthur. While he was the prince of Camelot he wouldn't have the chance to think of his own Bradley-problems. Everything would be just fine. And it was, until Colin stepped into the scene. 

The past minutes Bradley had been filming completely alone and now Colin's presence as Merlin was required. Thus the boy stepped on set, walking right into the scene up to Arthur, who was standing with his back to the door.  
“Arthur?”, he asked, “you wanted to see me?”  
This scene was one of the key scenes in season 5, Arthur had just found out about Merlin's powers, a scene which was yet to be filmed though, but Merlin didn't know. The prince had now to decide on Merlin's loyalty and whether he was going to trust him or not.  
“Yes”, Arthur said, turning around, “There's something we need to talk about”  
Merlin cocked his head, “Yes?”  
Arthur sighed sadly, then he unsheathed his sword and suddenly stormed up to Merlin, pressing the blade to his servant's throat.   
Merlin's eyes widened in shock and he stepped away, until his back met with the cold stone wall of Arthur's chambers, the blade still close to his throat.  
“Ar- Arthur. What are you-?”, Merlin stammered.  
“I know, Merlin”, Arthur told him through clenched teeth.  
“Know what?”  
“That you are... a sorcerer”, he spit the words out.  
Merlin's face went white, “That's not true-”  
“I saw you, Merlin. No need to deny it any longer”, he was frustrated and pissed and felt betrayed.  
“Arthur, I-”  
“What? Do you have ANY excuse?”  
Merlin swallowed hard, his throat coming way too close to the blade, “I'm sorry, I never meant to hurt you. Never”  
Arthur's eyes fixed his, pressing the blade a little closer, “Do you have any idea how I feel?”  
“I'm really sorry. I couldn't tell you. I couldn't put you in this dilemma”  
“Dilemma?”  
“To decide between the king, no the kingdom and … me”, his eyes started to tear up.  
“What makes you think that I'd ever choose you?”, Arthur growled-  
“I thought we were friends”  
Arthur's eyes widened at those words, all too familiar to Bradley and he bit on his lower lip, pressing unconsciously the blade closer to his throat. “Friends?” he hissed, “You are not my friend any more”   
Bradley pressed the blade even closer, until Colin suddenly squinted his eyes and winced. “Ouch”, Colin coughed and pushed Bradley away from him, “That was too much”, he rubbed his neck, glaring at Bradley.  
Bradley blinked.“Sorry”, he muttered and looked away.  
“Cut”, was being yelled and the scene began from the beginning. With every shot Bradley's emotions got heavier and deeper until in the last take he found himself crying at his own words.  
He was sent off the set and Jeremy told some assistant to go look after this poor excuse of an actor and to inquire whether he'd be able to perform today or not.   
Bradley wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, so he locked himself into one of the bathroom stalls again, put his feet up and placed his head on his knees.  
Only minutes later he heard someone enter the restroom, footsteps coming closer and an all too familiar voice calling for him, “Bradley! Come out right now, this can't go on like this. What are you a man or a mouse?”  
“Shut up, Katie”, Bradley growled back, “'peep' if you want”  
“Come on”, she had figured his hide out out and knocked on the door, “You know, I'm probably the only person who's nice enough to talk to you about this”  
Bradley scowled, “I bet Rupert would be NICE enough too, or Eoin or even Richard”  
Katie sighed, “You know, this can't go on like this”

He let his feet fall on the floor and finally opened the door and came out, “So, what do you expect me to do, if you are so wise, Miss Katie”  
She knitted her eyebrows disapprovingly, “Bradley, not like this. I can't work like this”, she took him by the arm and dragged him out of the men's restroom, made him sit on a coach in one of the many changing rooms, one that was currently unused.  
“Now, Mr. James, what didn't you get when I told you not to say anything to Colin”  
“He started it”, Bradley shot back instantly.  
“He did?”  
Bradley nodded, then he raised an eyebrow, “Wait, you didn't expect him to do so, did you?”  
“No”, she admitted, “Actually, I was sure he would never mention that again”  
“Why would you think that?”  
Katie sighed, “I already told you, I am in no position to tell you”  
“Well, Colin looks like he doesn't want to say anything either, so-”  
“What did he say to you then that you are suddenly so worked up?”  
Bradley looked away, “Well, he asked me if it were true, if I really harboured those feelings for him”  
“And what did you say?”  
“Well, why should I say anything, he knew the answer already, anyway”  
Katie exhaled loudly, “So you DIDN'T tell him?”  
“Well, not exactly”  
She buried her face in her hands, “You are so stupid, Bradley”  
“Am I? Well sorry then, how am I supposed to know that I have to say 'Hey, Colin, I know you already know anyway, but well, I love you'!”, Bradley was standing and making wild gestures as the door was suddenly opened and Colin was standing in the room.  
Their eyes met and the younger man's face was flushed and pale at the same time. But Colin's face was always pale, so maybe Bradley was only imagining that part.  
“Co- Colin”, he stammered blushing.  
“Bradley”, the boy whispered.  
Katie got up and nodded to the boys, making her way out of the room, “Well, I'll excuse myself”  
When the door was shut and the two men were finally alone there hung an awkward silence between them.


	6. Chapter 6

“Erm”, Colin was first to break into the heavy silence, “What have you been talking about?”  
Bradley ran a hand through his hair, “Why do you even need to ask”  
“Well, because I'm not-”, the younger man hung his head, “I'm not sure if I heard, if I understood correctly or if I'm just assuming things” He looked up, meeting his friend's eyes.  
“So, you want me to say it?”, Bradley stared at him frustrated.  
“Actually”, Colin turned away from him, looking at a stall of costumes, “I'm not sure about that either. Knowing for sure would change everything”  
“Of course it would, but it's too late anyway”, the blond man said confused.  
“But if we just pretend it never happened then-”  
Bradley took two quick steps towards Colin, pushing the boy into the door, pressing with all his weight onto him, “You can't be serious, Colin” His eyes were full of hurt and desperation.  
“You don't mean that, do you?”  
“Well, what do you expect me to do?”, Colin asked him with the same look Bradley was giving him.  
“You could at least acknowledge my feelings”  
“I don't know what you are talking about”, Colin pressed his hands to his ears, covering them and shaking his head.   
“Colin!”, Bradley said, through clenched teeth. “Colin!”, he repeated louder and grabbed his friend's wrists, pulling them away from his ears, holding them down, “Look at me!”  
“No!”, Colin said under tears, “No, I don't wanna hear it”  
“Are you that disgusted by me?”, Bradley asked quietly, anxious, feeling his heart breaking in two. He hung his head, it hurt so much, too much to bear, “Was it a lie before when you said you wouldn't judge me?”  
Colin stilled, looked at his friend.  
“If you hate me so much just tell me, Colin so I can be done with it, with you and my bloody feelings-”  
“It's not like that!”  
“Then what is it?”, Bradley cried, “What is your freaking problem?”  
“Myself!”, Colin answered, almost yelling, “I'm too afraid to... to let myself be swept away by your pace...”  
“What do you mean?”, Bradley eyed him suspiciously.  
“I'm scared, Bradley. Are you never afraid?”  
“Of what?”, he looked at his friend irritated, “Well, that you might hate me...”  
“Nothing else?”  
“Like what? The only thing I'm afraid of right now is loosing you, Colin”, he took him by his shoulders, looking him right into the eyes.  
“What other people might think?”  
Bradley stiffened, “Why would you be?”  
“Of course you are not. You never care about how anyone sees you, Bradley”, Colin hung his head, “You are you, but I can't help myself. I don't want to be looked at weirdly and-”  
“Stop right there, Colin”, Bradley exhaled loudly, “don't tell me, you of all people are afraid of other people's opinions?”  
“Well, I of all people have always been afraid of other people's opinions”, he growled.  
“So, your behaviour... doesn't mean, you don't like me back, but you are afraid that you actually DO like me back?”, there was hope in Bradley's voice and eyes.  
Colin finally met his gaze, “What if?”  
“That shouldn't be bothering you, really, Morgan, it's nothing to be afraid of”  
“Well, to me it is”, Colin said angrily.  
Bradley rose his right hand and caressed Colin's cheek, “Don't be afraid. I'm here for you, you know. And nobody needs to know, if it makes you feel better”, he gave him his sweetest and most reassuring smile Bradley could muster up.  
Colin blushed and leaned into the touch, closing his eyes. Bradley kissed the boy on the head, confessing quietly: “I love you, Colin Morgan”

 

the end


End file.
